In our last FAQs "When Can Organizations Rely on Implied Consent?" and "How Can I Obtain Express Consent for Commercial Electronic Messages?", we discussed the consent requirement to satisfy Canada's anti-spam legislation ("CASL"). In this FAQ, we set out the general content requirements.
There are two parts to the content requirements. First, the following identity and contact information must be set out in the commercial electronic message ("CEM") in a clear and prominent manner:
- The name of the person sending the CEM and its contact information (address and telephone number, email or website); and
- If the sender is sending the CEM on behalf of a third party, the sender must identify the person on whose behalf the message is sent.
If it is not practicable to include the information noted above in a CEM, that information may be posted on a webpage that is readily accessible by the recipient of the CEM, provided that such access is at no cost to the recipient and the link to the information is clearly and prominently set out in the CEM.
The contact information must be valid for at least 60 days after the CEM was sent so that a person can readily contact such person.
The second part of the content requirements is the unsubscribe mechanism, which also needs to be included in a CEM. We will discuss the unsubscribe mechanism in our next FAQ.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
